Not Afraid Anymore
by sadbird
Summary: Sakura can't forget about Sasuke and keeps hoping that he would come back. She's 18 now and while she is training, she gets her wish come true. please read everyone. contains some sakusasu. Sasuke is OOC REVISED


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

* * *

_Sakura! Say it! Who the hell hurt you!_

_Sakura…_

_Sakura…_

Haruno Sakura, currently in training, punched the ground and as a result, numerous trees shattered and crumbled into millions of pieces. She gasped for breath, desperately trying to take _his_ voice away from her head.

_Sakura, who hurt you!?_

_Sakura…_

_Sakura…_

He said he never cared about her, told her she was annoying.

_You're annoying_

But why did he allow her to stay by his side whenever he was in the hospital?

_Sasuke-kun, how are you feeling now?_

_Hn…I'm fine_

_Does it hurt?_

…_No_

Why did he constantly let her hold his hand and never attempted to pull away?

_Sasuke-kun, Naruto let's go_

…_don't pull_

_Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Let's go home!_

_Okay Sakura-chan!_

…_Let's_

Why did he resist the cursed seal and turn back to normal when she begged him to?

…_please…stop_

Why didn't he run away from the hug or push her away?

_Why?_

_You don't hate me Sasuke-kun, you never did. You never hated me, or Naruto, or Kakashi-sensei. You were just afraid! _Sakura hurled 7 kunais to a tree and they all hit to form a straight line. She threw some more until she was stripped from all weapons, all the kunais and shurikens hitting the same tree and forming a perfect Konoha symbol without any flaw.

Sakura Haruno is currently eighteen years old. She grew her hair back to when she was still a genin and her eyes are not the soft emerald anymore, but hard jade sparkling with determination and strength like an endless stream. She grew up to be respected and admired by everyone in the village, since she was able to surpass Tsunade in the medical area and her monstrous strength is as good as ever. All she does is train, go help in the hospital, train some more, then finally he hit the bed. She was finally able to reach anbu, but decided to stay in the hospital rather than missions…

…_unless it is necessary _she told herself

Naruto has been going on different missions lately, since he's doing whatever it takes to become the Rokudaime of Konohagaru and she hasn't being seeing him or Kakashi a lot these days, but they managed to stay in contact. Sai is as aggravating and emotionless as ever, but he isn't Sai without those traits.

* * *

Once done with her training, she was conscious of a particular blonde, energetic ANBU sprinting towards her. She smiled, turned around, and met up with Naruto, who she hasn't seen for 3 weeks now because of his mission.

"Sakura-chaaaan!" he yelled and took away her air supply as he crushed her into a hug. She grinned madly and hugged him back, not bothered a bit by his actions.

"Welcome back Naruto" she said softly. He has become the closest thing to a family to her, after her parents died from a mission. Naruto has become like a brother to her…an overprotective brother, but she wouldn't have it any other way. He was finally able to realize a certain Hyuuga heiress and one could that he would die for her. They've been going out for three years now and Sakura has a feeling Naruto wants to build their relationship to get more serious…in other words…engagement.

Just as the two broke away from the hug, Naruto's stomach growled and Sakura laughed.

"Ramen?" Sakura said with a smirk, making the jinchuuriki jump from joy.

Just when the two started eating their ramen, Sakura detected something strange in Naruto. Well, who wouldn't when he wasn't slurping his noodle like he usually does?

"Naruto, is everything okay? You seem kind of tense" she said with some kind of worry. Naruto but smiled at her

"I'm going to Tsunade-baa-chan to show you something. You have to come. I just couldn't find a way to tell you sooner" he said seriously, which is totally not his usual self, so all Sakura did was nod.

* * *

~~after ramen~~

The two member of team 7 were walking towards the hokage's tower and both of them were silent, which was weird, since Naruto would usually talk about his "great" mission to Sakura nonstop… well, until she punches him to shut up.

Once they reached the tower, they knocked on the door and Sakura was the first one to come in.

"Tsunade-shishou, Naruto came…from…" Sakura couldn't even finish her sentence as her emerald eyes locked on to Onyx, but not Kakashi-sensei's nor Sai's.

"Sasuke…kun" she whispered as she set her eyes on Tsunade, then Kakashi, who was standing right beside Sasuke.

Sakura felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder squeeze her back to reality. Sasuke was staring at her, eyes as emotionless as ever, but there was something different in them. Something like that of pride and… relief?

"I suppose that means you killed your brother?" she said, watching for any reaction that might answer her question. He gave her a small smirk, which directly gave away the answer and made her release a breath she was secretly holding in.

"Uchiha Sasuke has been found near his brother's corpse, unconscious with various injuries consuming his entire body and a deep gash on his skull. Kakashi here found him and since he had a medical ninja on his team, asked him to heal the life-threatening wounds. Right after he was certain that moving him was safe, he brought him here and I questioned him for a while before taking him to the hospital for full check-ups. I told Naruto to bring you back later in the evening, but I guess he couldn't wait" Tsunade said as she looked at both Naruto and Sakura.

Sasuke stood up slowly, his wounds still hurting slightly, but his Uchiha pride would not let him show weakness. For the first time in years, he showed his long-time teammates…his only family a smile he's wanted to give the moment they arrived, shocking them both

"Does that mean you're staying, Sasuke-teme!?" Naruto yelled and Kakashi smiled when he nodded his head.

"My revenge has been completed. I have nothing else to do in my life anymore. Tsunade-sama, I will agree on any punishment you give me" Sasuke knows that he would be sentenced to death, or tortured for information, then sentenced to death from betraying the village, but at least he got to see his teammates for the very last time. They were always capable of bringing his heart to peace and they never did disappoint him, especially not this time. Tsunade smiled at him and shook her head.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you will be banned from doing any missions for 3 months and will stay on probation until you are allowed to go on missions again…Sasuke, you killed 2 of the akatsuki member and killed Orochimaru, do you think that I will let you die? You got rid of Konoha's most dangerous ninjas. Also, you're lucky that my apprentice and Naruto love you so much and I wouldn't do anything to hurt them by condemning you to death"

Her statement stunned Sasuke beyond belief, but before he could say anything else, he was engulfed by an embrace from Sakura, who barely managed to reach his shoulders.

"SASUKE-TEME IS BACK!" Naruto cheered and Sasuke smirked at his enthusiasm. Naruto will never change. He looked down at the person whose been haunting his dream since the day he left Konoha and waited for what she will say.

"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun" she finally said with tears in her eyes. Sasuke smiled at her and while Naruto was busy talking to Kakashi about what they should do, Sasuke hugged the only girl…woman who cared about him.

"Ah…I'm back"

There was no "Where have you been?" or "Why are you back?" or anything. Team 7 has always understood each other and this wasn't different. They knew that Sasuke came to rest and be welcomed by his family and that is exactly what Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi did.

Sasuke wasn't afraid anymore. He came back to his teammates, his family…and he won't dare disappear from their lives again.

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i hope you liked it, i dunno if i should do a two-shot with a little sasusaku in it. what do you think?


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